Sixty-sixth General Assembly

Fifth Committee

16^th Meeting (AM)

Budget Committee Recommends Appointments to Subsidiary Bodies

 

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today moved to fill upcoming vacancies on the Board of Auditors, the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, and four other bodies that help it manage the Organization’s vast human resources and keep its financial house in order.

The dozens of recommendations would be sent on to the General Assembly for its stamp of approval later during the sixty-sixth session.  The four other bodies considered today were the Committee on Contributions, Investments Committee, Independent Audit Advisory Committee and United Nations Staff Pension Committee.

At this morning’s meeting, Fifth Committee delegates first turned their attention to the five pending vacancies on the 16-member Advisory Committee.  Also known as ACABQ, the Advisory Committee plays a crucial role in helping the Committee examine the Organization’s budget and numerous management initiatives put forth by the Secretariat.

The Committee recommended by acclamation the appointments of Jean Christian Obame of Gabon from the Group of African States; Pavel Chernikov of the Russian Federation from the Group of Eastern European States; Bruno Nunes Brant of Brazil from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States; and Dietrich Lingenthal of German, and David Traystman of the United States from the Group of Western European and other States.

The Fifth Committee then turned its attention to the Committee on Contributions, which advises the General Assembly on the apportionment of the Organization’s expenses among the Member States.

It recommended by acclamation six persons for the six three-year slots that would begin 1 January 2012 on the Contributions Committee.  The candidates were Hae-yun Park of the Republic of Korea and Sun Xudong of China from the Group of Asia-Pacific States; Nikolay Lozinskiy of the Russian Federation from the Group of Eastern European States; Henrique da Silveira Sardinha Pinto of Brazil from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States; and NneNne Iwuji-Eme of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Gonke Roscher of Germany from the Group of Western European and other States.

Turning to the four vacancies that would emerge on the Investments Committee on 31 December, the Fifth Committee recommended by acclamation Masakazu Arikawa of Japan; Madhav Dhar of India; Nemir Kirdar of Iraq; and Dominique Senequier of France.  The three-year terms to this nine-member body would begin on 1 January 2012.  It then recommended by acclamation the reappointments of Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg of Venezuela and Ivan Pictet of Switzerland as ad-hoc members for a one-year term that also would begin the first of January.

The Investments Committee meets quarterly to review investment policy and provide advice to the Secretariat regarding the investments of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund.

The Committee then backed the nomination of the Controller and Auditor-General of the United Republic of Tanzania to the six-year slot on the Board of Auditors that would become vacant on 30 June 2012.  The United Republic of Tanzania would replace the slot now held by the Controller and Auditor-General of South Africa on that three-member body that has responsibility for the external audit of the Secretariat and its funds and programmes.

The position held by Auditor-General of the General Audit Office of China expires on 30 June 2014, while the third slot, now held by the Office of the United Kingdom, expires on 30 June 2016.

Turning to the two vacancies on the five-member Independent Audit Advisory Committee, the Committee recommended by acclamation the appointment of John F.S. Muwanaga of Uganda; and J. Christopher Mihm of the United States.  Those three-year slots would begin on 1 January 2012.  The Audit Advisory Committee helps the Assembly meet its oversight responsibilities and ensure management is complying with audit and other oversight functions.

Finally, the Committee turned to the vacant slot left last month with the resignation of Andrei Vitalievitch Kovalenko of the Russian Federation from the United Nations Staff Pension Committee.  The Fifth Committee recommended that the Assembly appoint Dmitry S. Chumakov to fill the remaining time of Mr. Kovalenko’s term, which expires 31 December 2012.  Also known as the United Nations Staff Pension Board, the 33-member Committee helps administer the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund.

The Fifth Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. Thursday, 10 November, to discuss International Public Sector Accounting Standards, part of the proposed programme budget: biennium 2012-20130.

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For information media • not an official record